Scholar Names A-C

Shama Ams US University: Saint John's University

Texas native Shama Ams is a Government & Politics major at St. John's University. He has worked at the Office of Congressman John A. Culberson as a Bill Archer intern and as a summer intern at the Office of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand. As a McNair Scholar, Shama's research focuses on the institutional, economic, and social context of healthcare problems in the developing world. Mr. Ams is a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow at the U.S. Department of State.

John ‘Russell’ Beaumont US University: University of Texas - Austin

Raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Russell Beaumont studied architecture and Plan II Liberal Arts Honors at the University of Texas at Austin. During his studies he focused on disaster relief architecture and spent 12 months living in South America researching how communities recovered from the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Chile. After graduating he received the Oglesby Traveling Fellowship to research vernacular building traditions in Peru and Chile in the context of post-disaster reconstruction. He plans to study Urban Design and International Development to prepare for a career in relief and recovery for communities affected by conflict and natural disasters.

Alyssa Bilinski US University: Yale University

Alyssa Bilinski graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale in 2013 with a degree in Political Science. A Presidential Scholar and Yale Global Health Fellow, she is interested in how data analysis and mathematical modeling inform health policy and development. She has done extensive fieldwork in South America and Africa and co-authored multiple publications on public health issues. She currently serves as a data analyst in Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality at Partners In Health. She is also president of Water Ecuador, a non-profit that builds water centers in rural Ecuador. Alyssa enjoys running, baking, and watching romantic comedies.

Alexander Brammer US University: United States Military Academy

Alex Brammer, from Arizona, will graduate from West Point in May of 2014 with a degree in Economics. After deploying three times to Iraq between 2006 and 2008 as an Army Ranger, Alex enrolled in West Point, where he is focusing on post-conflict development economics. While at West Point, he spent time in Costa Rica and Ghana working on community development projects. As a Marshall Scholar, Alex will investigate ways to enhance and generalize successful microfinance initiatives so that they can be applied across a broad swath of development contexts. After Oxford, Alex will fly helicopters as an Army aviator.

Andrew Bulovsky US University: University of Wisconsin - Madison

A Lodi, Wisconsin native, Andrew Bulovsky graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Madison with a degree in Political Science and Communication Arts. Andrew served as the Student Body President and was recognized for service to campus with initiation into the On Wisconsin Society. He spent one summer in London interning with the British House of Commons and another in Washington, D.C. interning for the American Enterprise Institute. Andrew loves playing hockey, running, and weight lifting, and plans to pursue an MSc in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Rhaina Cohen US University: Northwestern University

Rhaina Cohen will graduate from Northwestern University with a degree in American Studies. Her interests in journalism and political communication have led her to internships at ABC News, CBS News, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's office and campaign and to a position as production coordinator for the public affairs show "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." She works as a research assistant on two forthcoming books: a biography and a book about single women in the United States. To deepen her understanding of policies that mitigate gender, economic and racial inequality, Rhaina will study Comparative Social Policy at the University of Oxford.

Tantum Collins US University: Yale University

Tantum Collins graduated from Yale University in 2013. A Global Affairs major with an interest in the design of supranational institutions, he has studied, worked and conducted research in Jordan, China, India and Qatar. Currently he is working with Gen. Stanley McChrystal on a book about the transformation of the Joint Strategic Operations Command in Iraq from 2004 to 2009, and its implications for the future of organizational adaptability. At Oxford he will pursue an MPhil in International Relations with a concentration in Global Institutional Design.